1. Technical Field
The invention concerns an apparatus and a method for the virtual fencing of an animal.
2. Related Art
Traditionally, physical fences have been used to contain livestock within defined areas. More recently, devices have been manufactured for attachment to animals. Some devices use the application of auditory stimuli as a precursor to electrical stimuli to control the spatial location of the animal. However animals do not readily discriminate between the stimuli.
Other devices can be problematic in that the animal does not know in which direction to move to escape the application of stimuli. One solution has been to provide separate stimuli to each side of the head of the animal to steer the animal however this adds to the complexity of the device, and may limit fitting options. Other devices provide continual stimuli together with an override feature designed to cause the stimulus to an animal to stop when the animal for some reason is unable to leave the exclusion area. However such devices inhibit a desired response and may compromise the welfare of the animal. Moreover, such devices do not take into consideration how animals learn and behave.